February 25, 2010 (Jeremiah 46-52, Lamentations 1-5)

Jeremiah ends with the capture and destruction of Jerusalem, which included Jeremiah being taken captive. Lamentations is written by Jeremiah and has three themes:

1. the theme of mourning of Jerusalem's holocaust
2. the theme of confession of sin and acknowledgment of God's righteous and holy judgment
3. the them of hope in God's future restoration of His people

I'm going to dwell on the third theme, just because I am so sick of judgment. I want to be reminded of God's mercies and unfailing love.

^{Lamentations 3:21} Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord.
²⁷ And it is good for people to submit at an early age
to the yoke of his discipline.

³¹ For no one is abandoned
by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
because of the greatness of his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not enjoy hurting people
or causing them sorrow.

³⁷ Who can command things to happen
without the Lord’s permission?
³⁸ Does not the Most High
send both calamity and good?
³⁹ Then why should we, mere humans, complain
when we are punished for our sins?

⁴⁰ Instead, let us test and examine our ways.
Let us turn back to the Lord.
⁴¹ Let us lift our hearts and hands
to God in heaven and say,
⁴² “We have sinned and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven us.

⁵⁴ The water rose over my head,
and I cried out, “This is the end!”

⁵⁵ But I called on your name, Lord,
from deep within the pit.
⁵⁶ You heard me when I cried, “Listen to my pleading!
Hear my cry for help!”
⁵⁷ Yes, you came when I called;
you told me, “Do not fear.”

So, the bottom line is this: God loves us. He wants to bless us, for His name's sake. We have the privilege of seeing 'the end of the story'. We know that it is only through Christ that we can be blessed. Yet we are still responsible for our choices. We can choose to submit to His authority in our lives, or we choose to 'run the ship ourselves'. What choice will I make today?